City Voters Will Get Gerrymandering Referendum
Common Council adds question on nonpartisan legislative districts to the April ballot.
City voters will get to make their voice heard on non-partisan redistricting in April.
Under a proposal introduced by Alderman Cavalier Johnson, Milwaukee voters will have an additional question on an already packed Presidential primary ballot.
Under the terms of the resolution, the question will read: “Should the City of Milwaukee request that the Wisconsin Legislature pass legislation creating a non-partisan procedure for drawing legislative district maps that will result in fair political representation for all Wisconsin voters?”
The Common Council unanimously passed the resolution at its Tuesday morning meeting after holding the measure a cycle so Johnson could confer with Neil Albrecht, Executive Director of the Milwaukee Election Commission.
The non-binding question comes in response to a Republican-led redistricting process in 2011 that resulted in a Supreme Court challenge. The federal court on a 5-4 ruling determined it could not hear cases involving a state partisan process. Republicans won 60 of the 99 Wisconsin State Assembly seats as a result of the new maps, though the total votes cast for Democrats exceeded those for Republicans.
As of the spring 2019 election, 42 county boards have voted to ban gerrymandering and eight counties have passed referendums in opposition to the process. The Milwaukee County Board of Supervisors voted 16-2 to request non-partisan redistricting in 2017.
Wisconsin districts are scheduled to be redrawn following the 2020 US Census.
Milwaukee voters heading to the polls on April 7th will find a host of races on their ballot, including a Presidential partisan primary, and races for state Supreme Court justice, six Milwaukee County Circuit Court seats, Milwaukee County Executive, county and city comptroller, county supervisor, Common Council, Mayor, City Treasurer and City Attorney. Many of those races are expected to be contested.
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Related Legislation: File 190826
More about the Gerrymandering of Legislative Districts
- Op Ed: Democrats Optimistic About New Voting Maps - Ruth Conniff - Feb 27th, 2024
- The State of Politics: Parties Seek New Candidates in New Districts - Steven Walters - Feb 26th, 2024
- Rep. Myers Issues Statement Regarding Fair Legislative Maps - State Rep. LaKeshia Myers - Feb 19th, 2024
- Statement on Legislative Maps Being Signed into Law - Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Robin Vos - Feb 19th, 2024
- Pocan Reacts to Newly Signed Wisconsin Legislative Maps - U.S. Rep. Mark Pocan - Feb 19th, 2024
- Evers Signs Legislative Maps Into Law, Ending Court Fight - Rich Kremer - Feb 19th, 2024
- Senator Hesselbein Statement: After More than a Decade of Political Gerrymanders, Fair Maps are Signed into Law in Wisconsin - Dianne Hesselbein - Feb 19th, 2024
- Wisconsin Democrats on Enactment of New Legislative Maps - Democratic Party of Wisconsin - Feb 19th, 2024
- Governor Evers Signs New Legislative Maps to Replace Unconstitutional GOP Maps - A Better Wisconsin Together - Feb 19th, 2024
- Data Wonk: Should Evers Sign Redistricting Bill? - Bruce Thompson - Feb 14th, 2024
Read more about Gerrymandering of Legislative Districts here